MGR Karaoke

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Chennai July 16: Twenty days after an exclusive revelation to this newspaper that the will of MGR was a forgery, the nephews and nieces of late chief minister MGR said the forgery was done by V.N. Janaki, third wife of the late leader. They have given documentary proof for their earlier claim that the property of Janaki at Arcot Road in Chennai (now MGR memorial) was deliberately included in the “forged” will. “As V.N. Janaki cannot lay claim to the property of our chithappa (father’s younger brother) legally, she forged the will for the benefit of her cousin brother’s (Mr Narayanan) daughters and in-laws who now occupy the Ramavaram garden house of MGR,” said M. C Sugumar, M. C. Chandran, M.C Vijayalakshmi Venugopal and M.C.Rajendran, the sons and daughter of MGR’s only elder brother M.G. Chakkarapani.The 1981 sale deed copy of the Arcot Road property mentions Smt.V.N.Janaki, residing at MGR gardens, Madras-84 as the purchaser. “The document does not refer to her as wife of MGR. As Ms Janaki’s legal status could have become a hurdle in transferring MGR’s property, she forged the will with the help of some close relatives and advisors,” they said. Mr Rajendran who visited Ramavaram garden house a day before the death of the late leader said, “Our elder brother M.C. Ramamurthy visited MGR on December 23 morning in 1987.When MGR asked Janaki for a “document” in his presence, she refused to give it. MGR and Janaki had an argument over that. I went there immediately after that and was told by Janaki that she left MGR unattended after the argument.” The only blood relatives of the late chief minister claimed there had been attempts to sell the Ramavaram garden house in the last three months. Even as no progress was made in the alleged murder over the Rs 250 crore MGR property after 40 days of the incident, the claim of close relatives of MGR that the will was forged by Janaki MGR might come as a shock for the loyalists and followers of the late leader. “We are the only legal heirs of MGR. Nobody could challenge our claim that the will was forged even after 20 days of making it public. We will initiate criminal and civil proceedings against those enjoying the property of chithappa (MGR) now. Our family will seek protection from the Chennai Commissioner of Police and the DGP before moving the Court,” said the siblings.